Distinctive

By – Victoria Tillson Evans

Time and again, students insist that they want to go a top-tier college. The prestige has a way of luring many to apply. While thousands of students have the academic credentials to get in, they lack some of the key personality traits that make an elite college a good choice. It’s not that there is a right or wrong way to be, but rather, there are certain behaviors that signal that an Ivy is for you. Let’s discuss these qualities and the types of people for whom an elite college is a bad idea!

You Don’t Like Competition

I often laugh when reviewing students college search questionnaires. So many have claimed that they don’t like competition, yet they want to go to an Ivy. These are contradictions that are often difficult to reconcile. It’s like saying that you want to perform on Broadway, but you don’t like to act. Getting into an Ivy is a fierce, international-level competition. This is not a process for the faint of heart. You should love to compete and be ready to do what it takes to get there. This type of mindset is what gets you in and keeps you happy while you’re there, because these colleges have very competitive learning environments. 

This is not to say that all of the students are cut-throat and cruel to one another. Sometimes, you experience the exact opposite! What it means is that these students all possess ambition, they have figured out how to match their goals to their abilities, and they have competitive prizes to show as proof. It’s not enough to want to get in, you have to be the type of person who pushes  to achieve at the highest levels.

You Don’t Nerd Out

I imagine you’re reading this because you’re smart and you have the grades and test scores to prove it. Unfortunately, that’s not enough. Much to my dismay, I have met a lot of straight A students who have shown a complete lack of intellectual curiosity. Too many school systems these days encourage students to work to the test or rubric, and not to look beyond either. If you see yourself in that description, I’m afraid an Ivy is not for you. Unhooked applicants who get into Ivies love to learn. They don’t necessary love to learn about everything, but they definitely find ways to nerd out about what they’re passionate about in their free time. I’ve met a student who hired a Latin tutor, so that she could learn the language while she underwent a long recovery from surgery. I’ve had another student go on weekly walks in the woods to read literature and books about leadership development. I’ve also worked with a number of computer programmers who have created ebola-tracking software, stroke-detecting technology, and a way to use bluetooth to help people in remote areas send out distress signals. No one asked these students to do these things. They did them because they genuinely enjoy learning! This is the kind of mindset that helps you get in!

Academic Pressure Makes You Anxious

Like a lack of intellectual curiosity, feeling anxious about academic pressure definitely makes an Ivy a bad choice for you. These are not Mickey Mouse universities (sorry Disney – I still think you’re awesome)! You will have a lot of work to do. The expectations will be high. Your professors, who are primarily paid to do research, not to teach, will expect you to teach yourself what you don’t know. You will be expected to think deeply and produce quickly. If you’re already struggling in high school with the academic expectations, you will be miserable trying to keep up with those at an elite school. Additionally, if you’re not willing to take the correct courses in high school to meet the admissions expectations of these universities, you really need to consider other options. Those laments of, “I don’t want to keep studying Spanish,” or “I hate science,” are not going to sell at these schools, which expect you to gracefully handle all of their core liberal arts requirements.

Elitism Turns Your Stomach

Part of what simultaneously attracts and repulses many people about the Ivies is the elitism found among several of the social circles that populate them. As part of the “Old Boys Network,” they have yet to fully shed these vestiges. The professors view themselves as the best in their fields (whether or not they really are), while the students are frequently assured that they are the best and the brightest. The presence of groups, such as Princeton’s “Eating Clubs,” Harvard’s “Finals Clubs,” and Yale’s “Secret Societies,” add another layer of exclusivity that you frequently don’t find anywhere else. Following graduation, you gain entry into a number of other clubs, first and foremost, those of the alumni networks. Students from selective prep schools, such as Exeter or Andover, still get preferential treatment during admission, while the number of students from families in the top 1% far outstrips those from the bottom 60%. These situations can often make you feel like you’re moving among privilege, which suits some and not others. If you fall into the latter category, then you may not necessarily enjoy what sets these schools apart from equally rigorous and fabulous public institutions, like the University of Virginia or the University of California, Berkeley.  

You’re Can’t or Aren’t Willing to Do the Work

Every year, I am shocked by a student who declares that he wants to go to an Ivy, but he doesn’t feel like doing the work needed to earn straight As in high school. Usually, I gently explain that students who attend the Ivies have at least a 3.9 unweighted GPA (but most have a 4.0), and that these schools, by definition, are academic institutions where you are meant to focus on your education. If you do not have the desire nor the ability to do well in high school, then there is no way that an Ivy is an appropriate choice for you. The only students who get in with lower abilities are development cases (celebrities or the children of wealthy donors), and recruited athletes. If you do not fall into either of those latter categories, you need to forget about these options.

Similarly, while the degrees of intrinsic motivation vary from student to student, if you need a parent, tutor, consultant, or coach to stand over you to make you do what you’re supposed to do, and you still don’t do it regularly, then an Ivy is definitely not for you. This is not to say that these people do not have any role in your success. They can all be hugely helpful! But they should be guiding you, motivating you when things go wrong, and helping you understand how to strategically approach your options. They should not have to hover and ask you time and again to get things done. 

A major by-product of the work I do with students as a college admissions consultant is to help them learn as much as possible about themselves, including their strengths and their weaknesses. I hope that you can realistically assess your values and levels of motivation to determine if an Ivy is for you, because for better or worse, they are definitely not the best choice for everyone – even “the best and the brightest”!